


One Last Time

by GrimHeaperr



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everyone is mentioned, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, SHEITH - Freeform, Season 8 Episode 13 spoilers, allurance, the ending I think we deserved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 17:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17027334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimHeaperr/pseuds/GrimHeaperr
Summary: After Allura sacrifices herself to repair all realities, she appears a year later from the conscious of the Blue Lion. While she recovered, Lance — ever faithful — remained by her side. Two years after her reappearance, they’re to be married on New Altea.Lance asks Keith to be his best man.Or: A Season 8, Episode 13 alternate ending.





	One Last Time

**Author's Note:**

> Put Hallmark AU on hold bc I’m salty and sad like a floppy French fry.  
> (No beta except Grammarly.)

Keith watches from the doorway as Lance pulls down his white coat jacket. He readjusts his blue bowtie, making it looser before tightening it again. He runs a hand over his gelled hair and opens his mouth to check his teeth.

Lance’s nervous energy makes Keith chuckle. Lance startles.

“How long have you been there?” He asks, caught off guard. 

Keith leans against the doorway, cold metal seeping through his white long sleeve. “Long enough to see you fix your tie.”

Lance sighs. “I’m just nervous, okay? I haven’t slept a wink. I keep thinking about what Coran said.”

Keith frowns. “About you not being royalty?”

“Yes,” Lance sighs, “I know it doesn’t matter. Her father gave her approval when we were in Haggar’s mindspace, but I still...” he deflates. 

Keith pushed off the doorway and walked over to Lance. He placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “If there’s anyone more worthy of Princess Allura, it’s you, Lance. After she was gone, you still continued to tell her story with the love the others couldn’t replicate. Your devotion to her makes you more than enough.”

Lance looked at him through the mirror and let out a weak huff of a laugh. He was smiling again, and that’s all that matters.

“I still can’t believe hotheaded Keith is now this cool, calm guy.”

Keith offers him a crooked smile, humor laced in its tilt. “And I can’t believe the flirtatious, annoying teenager matured enough to marry royalty.”

“We definitely came a long way.”

The two share a comfortable laugh before there’s a knock. Lance’s father, adorned in a well-worn black suit smiles at the two of them.

_“¿Estás listo?”_

_“Sí, papa. Estar allí pronto.”_ With that, his father nods and leaves, his footsteps echoing down the hall.

“Are you ready?” Keith asks again, an eyebrow raised. He’s looking for an honest answer because he can feel Lance’s quintessence pulse anxiously. 

Lance looks at him before he turns to look in the mirror. Keith watches as Lance’s nervous dissipate and his shoulders set. The nervous knots in his stomach turned to butterflies as he thought, in less than twenty minutes, he’ll soon be married to the love of his life. Despite his underlying nerves, Lance is excited to start a life with Allura. 

_A new chapter._

“I’ll see you out there, man.” Keith pats Lance on the shoulder before heading out, nodding to Lance’s father as he makes his way down to the alter. Lance’s mother stands up and takes Keith’s hand.

“How nervous his he?” She asks, a laugh in her eyes.

“He’s been through worst situations,” he replies. Mrs. McClain chuckles. “He’s coming with Mr. McClain soon.” His mother thanks him before returning to her seat. Hunk, Romelle, and Pidge are waiting on their respective sides. Coran isn’t there yet, but Keith knows he’s walking down the aisle to give her away, as per earth customs. He waves to Pidge and Romelle on Allura’s side before taking his place on Hunk’s left.

“How’s he doing? I was too busy setting up the food to go check on him.” Hunk asks, wiping crumbs off the cuff of his sleeve.

“He’s fine. Just a bit nervous.” Keith answers, eyes forward and looking for a familiar head of white hair. 

Shiro is talking to Commander Sam Holt behind the rows of chairs. Briefly, Keith catches Shiro’s eye and sends him a private smile. He receives one in return. 

A few Alteans are already seated, as well as a few Garrison personnel. The MFEs take up the row on the end, along with a few teachers that Lance had at the Garrison. Keith expected something grander, but the wedding is a small, almost private event. The smell of the Altean sea water is fresh and the sweet smell of the juneberries carry in the wind. Keith doesn’t even mind the white sand already making its home in his shoe. 

It’s a peaceful and fitting setting for the two Blue paladins. 

 

The wedding starts with a flurry of flower petals and the bright march of an old Altean wedding song. Lance walks down the aisle with his father, who returns to his seat at the front when Lance takes his place on the left side of the decorated wedding arch. The music changes from a march to a ballad, and Allura appears arm-and-arm with Coran at the end of the aisle. She’s dressed in a wedding gown sewn by Mrs. Holt and the Altean dress maker. The shear material of the dress is decorated with embroidered flowers and crystals. The material stretches across her arms and chest and stops at the beginning of her bodice. The skirt slowly flares out and is decorated similarly to how the shear material is decorated. Her hair is in an up do with a few strands hanging down. The white streaks of quintessence that are hardly visible in her silver-blue hair were laden with shimmering crystals. 

_She looks beautiful._

Keith heard Lance’s breath hitch.

Allura walks down the aisle with regal and grace: back straight, posture tall. When she reaches the end, Coran takes his place at the altar. Keith smiles lightly at the tears formed in the corner of the older Altean’s eyes.

Coran stumbles over his words and blows his nose into his shirt, which makes the crowd of friends and family laugh. Keith feels his eyes sting when Lance says his speech, uncertainty and hesitation threaded through his love. Keith understands his nerves. Keith and Shiro had an unspoken bond long before Allura left to sacrifice herself to save all realities. They never addressed it, but both acknowledged their different forms of love. They leaned on each other, and after years of war, loss, and pain, the two shared their lives quietly in the warmth of Shiro’s private quarters of the Atlas. Before the war, Keith was too scared to admit his feelings, but Shiro had accepted him for who he was and defended Keith against prejudices. Their love and devotion had long changed from their former relationship as a student and mentor. 

They have come a long way.

Keith was content with where he was at. He lead humanitarian efforts under his mother and Kolivan, returned to Shiro’s arms in the privacy of their own rooms, and shared laughs and talks with the other paladins. He even offered to talk to a group of new cadets who stared at him in awe as he talked about peace and the Voltron Coalition. Shiro, who was at his side during that class, laughed when a rather brave cadet asked if Keith was seeing anyone. Keith’s response was to look at Shiro before he winked at the student, which caused the others to laugh.

It’s not that they kept their relationship a secret, they just preferred people’s assumptions over the eyes of the Intergalactic Press, who where currently positioned outside of the barrier that kept the wedding somewhat private on the open planet. 

Keith watched as Allura caressed Lance’s face, ran her thumbs under the Altean markings, and kissed. Hunk, Coran, and Romelle blew their noses while Keith and Pidge shared a smile. There were a few shutter clicks and clapping before Kinkade’s camera circled the two, recording.

 

The wedding party moved inside the new Castle of Lions. Hunk’s crew served a delicious meal filled with items and delicacies that came from across the universe. They toasted with goblets of Nunvil before the dancing portion of the wedding started.

More people crowded into the dance hall to watch Lance and Allura share the first dance to an ancient Altean waltz. Lance glided along with Allura, moving in sync and engrossed in their own private sphere. Keith slipped away as more people joined them on the dancefloor.

Keith walked the long halls of the castle until he smelled the sea. He opened the last door of a short corridor that opened to the private docks. He walked down the metal stairs and sat on the last dock that stretched out into the open sea. Keith took off his shoes and socks before he plunged his feet into the warm Altean sea water.

The sun was setting, and the vibrant blue turned into a fiery red. He missed the presence of Red and Black, the two lions often offering him their company in his alone time. Instead, he felt the quintessence of the castle pulse under his fingers, and the currents carry the life force of the planet through the crashing waves. Soon, the pulse changed to a vibrating pattern and Keith smiled to himself at the familiar feeling. 

He didn’t take his eyes off the sunset as he heard footsteps echo down the docks. He didn’t need to turn around to feel Shiro’s quintessence nearby, nor did he acknowledge the man until he sat down. Shiro mimicked Keith in taking his shoes off and dipping his feet into the warm water. Keith leaned his head on Shiro’s shoulder and Shiro retuned the touch with his right arm at Keith’s side and pressed a kiss to the top of Keith’s head.

They shared a comfortable silence. 

Keith sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked softly, a bit of worry laced in his tone.

For once, Keith had a straight answer. “Nothing.” He was content and happy. His two friends married, surrounded by their families, loved ones, and more. There were no signs of any Zarkon sympathizers and the Coalition was slowly but surely making their way across galaxies and repairing the damage Haggar, Zarkon, and the dying Galran Empire caused. The two years have passed without a hitch and very little danger. He had his mother, his cosmic wolf, Shiro, and his friends.

Keith had the family he always longed for.

Shiro believed his boyfriend’s reply and pressed another kiss to the top of his head. Just as the sun set and the red-orange sky revealed the constellations above New Altea, Shiro decided to pull the cool metal ring from his breast pocket with his left hand. He closed his fist around it and calmly laid his arms cross his lap.

“Keith,” he said, no urgency behind it. Keith shift is head so that purple eyes looked up at him. Shiro chuckled. With Keith’s attention on Shiro, Shiro opened his hand and this time whispered Keith’s name. Keith pulled away and looked into Shiro’s open palm.

Keith’s breath hitched in his throat as his heart lept there to stop his breathing. The ring was white gold and held no noticeable features. Upon closer inspection, Keith saw gold lettering on the inside of the ring that read _I love you_ in a beautiful script. Keith lifted his left hand and Shiro chuckled airily. Shiro slipped the ring onto Keith’s finger and brought Keith’s hands to his lips. They watched as the sunset dipped below the horizon and traced constellations with a new future to look forward to. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to talk to me on Twitter (@grimkohai) or Tumblr (grimkohai.tumblr.com)
> 
> Spanish translation: “Are you ready to go?” / “Yes, papa. I’ll be there soon.”  
> (Or should be, anyway. My Spanish is no better than a three year old’s.)


End file.
